My grandfather was my partner in spades. He's doing pretty good. There's still a little piece of cancer left in his stomach. He's in high spirits. He's staying strong. He has a positive attitude. When you go through something like this, I know he's going to beat it. He's definitely a strong person.

My son, Brendan, is smart. He understands about the NFL. He knows the key players. He'll say, "That's Ray Rice."

I'm getting good advice. I talk with a lot of NFL players like [Ravens running back] Bernard Pierce. I talked to [former Ravens wide receiver] LaQuan Williams. I've talked to [St. Louis Rams wide receiver and Dunbar graduate] Tavon Austin. They went through the process, so they know what's going on. They told me to stay out of trouble! I'm doing good with that. I stay in the house if I'm not working out for the most part. I'm careful.

My main focus is to get my mom and my two sisters and little brother a house and put them in a nice environment. It doesn't have to be a big house. It's about the location to help my family out where it's needed and know that they're safe. I know people will ask me for money, but I know who's been there since Day 1.

Like my aunt, I will help her out. She doesn't ask for nothing. She's got a good job. She says she doesn't need nothing from me. I'm going to help her and I love her, but I know other people will come out of the woodwork. I will tell them to call my financial advisor.

I'm maintaining, grinding and keeping everything focused. I can only control what I can control.

I went to the movies, I saw "Nonstop." That was a good one, a lot of action. My favorite TV show is "Martin." It's so funny, always makes me laugh every time.

Towson junior running back Terrance West declared early for the NFL draft after setting school records with 4,584 rushing yards and 86 touchdowns. The 5-foot-9, 223-pound Baltimore native is not enrolled at Towson this semester as he pursues the NFL and is sharing his draft experiences with Baltimore Sun reporter Aaron Wilson. At the NFL scouting combine, West delivered a strong performance as he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.54 seconds with a 33.5-inch vertical leap and caught the football smoothly in drills. West had formal meetings with 13 NFL teams, including the Ravens and Cleveland Browns. This is the seventh in an occasional series leading up to the draft in May:

Editor's note: Towson junior running back Terrance West declared early for the NFL draft after setting school records with 4,584 rushing yards and 86 touchdowns. The 5-foot-9, 223-pound Baltimore native is not enrolled at Towson this semester as he pursues the NFL and is sharing his draft experiences...

Editor's note: Towson junior running back Terrance West declared early for the NFL draft after setting school records with 4,584 rushing yards and 86 touchdowns. The 5-foot-9, 223-pound Baltimore native is not enrolled at Towson this semester as he pursues the NFL and is sharing his draft experiences...

Editor's note: Towson junior running back Terrance West declared early for the NFL draft after setting school records with 4,584 rushing yards and 86 touchdowns. The 5-foot-9, 223-pound Baltimore native is not enrolled at Towson this semester as he pursues the NFL and is sharing his draft experiences...

Editor's note: Towson junior running back Terrance West declared early for the NFL draft after setting school records with 4,584 rushing yards and 86 touchdowns. The 5-foot-11, 223-pound Baltimore native is not enrolled at Towson this semester as he pursues the NFL and is sharing his draft experiences...

Setting the scene: The Ravens began their second straight day of full-pads practice at 4 p.m. on a warm afternoon in Owings Mills with a large crowd in attendance. Many veterans got the day off and the young stars of the team put on a good show.